A narrative about Opensource vs Commercial Anti Spam

The open source community has been contributing to the aspect of building an anti spam blacklist for the public for at least two years. Called the spam-domains-list hosted by the open source project repository Github, a free and open anti spam blacklist. The anti spam blacklist is composed of 51,648 domains as of this writing and it is still growing. Definitely, the spammers have deep pockets to buy that many domains and they have the funds for continuing the acquisition of new domains. They have the upperhand versus a community-maintained anti spam blacklist, regardless of the efforts done by the Github maintenance team.

System administrators may download the anti spam blacklist, made available in a convenient .txt file named spamdomains.txt to their respective mail servers. Once the anti spam blacklist is uploaded to the mail server, this will serve as an anti spam blacklist for everyone serviced by the mail server. Receiving emails from a domain name included in the anti spam blacklist will be blocked outright, while sending emails to those domains will reply with an automated bounce email notifying the user that the domain is blocked. The addition of this open source anti spam blacklist may use some resources from the mail serve. As the anti spam blacklist continue to grow, it will require more system resources to install to the target mail server.

Remember, the use of a public anti spam blacklist like this one is something that system administrators decide for themselves and the organization they represent. They have to completely trust the contributors of the list. The accuracy that the domains included are really legitimate domains of spammers and it isn't poisoned by someone else that added an entry that isn't a spammer's domain.

This openness comes from the fact that anyone with a Github account can modify the spamdomains.txt. It is something to be expected with an open source project, all are welcome to contribute anytime. The alternative is a commercial program that has a similar goal, due to security companies having more funding for research and development, their products tend to be more robust and more efficient than an open source alternative.

As for the fight against spam, the industry is slowly but surely winning the war. Google even started using advanced Artificial Intelligence to block spam in its Gmail service. That technique is a generation more sophisticated than what the open source anti spam blacklist mentioned earlier. For a business enterprise, the option is between adapting Google service as the email provider or host it through the traditional Microsoft Exchange-Outlook server. The former is good, as with the adoption of Gmail the company can save a lot of money when it comes maintenance of the mail system.

Companies that still choose the traditional Exchange Outlook setup have many choices as their anti spam system, and some are better than others. A business anti spam that is hosted remotely or hardware-based is expected not to bloat the mail server, as it does not reside in it. Such business anti spam prevents email delays and slow delivery from the outbox, this is in contrast to a software-based blacklist anti spam that needs to be queried if the domain used is blocked or not.

One such business anti spam is from Comodo. A trusted name in privacy and security, Comodo Dome Anti Spam is a remotely hosted solution for filtering malicious emails, virus infected attachments and phishing emails. It will meet the requirement of the enterprise for a spam free mail server. Comodo Dome Anti Spam is a business anti spam solution that you need with the least manual intervention compared to its competitors. Try it today!